Netflix Adds New Emphasis on Original Content for Children and Families

Netflix Adds New Emphasis on Original Content for Children and Families

Last week, Hulu struck a deal with Sony Pictures to add more movies and big-name content to the platform. Not to be outdone, Netflix announced this week that it will be spending a large amount of its $5 billion programming budget for 2016 on children and family content, to further cement itself at the top video-streaming service.

Chief Content Office Ted Sarandos announced that Netflix is "doubling down on kids and families." As it stands, Netflix has just over a dozen original shows that are focused for children. Over the span of the next year, the company will up that number to 35 total programs.

While Netflix currently has hundreds of shows for kids on the network, most of them are acquired through their licensing deals. That was an important first step for the platform, which has a formulaic approach to targeting its key demographics. The next step, which has proven successful for Netflix, is to create new, original content in order to keep its consumers locked into the service.

Sarandos also acknowledge the challenge that the company faces on a global level. While their security team is currently blocking VPN and proxy services, Netflix understands that its customers use those services because a lot of content isn't available outside of the US. He promised this week to focus heavily on global license agreements.

We are running a global network that is not easily comparable in business or cultural terms to anything that has come before. Every year the exclusions of different countries in our licensing agreements will become less and less.

The show titles and storylines haven't been announced yet, but Sarandos said that information would be coming in just a few weeks as the ink dries on the fresh sheets of printed paper.